Notes / Commercial Description:
In the most worthy of pumpkin patches and during the silence of the midnight hour, the Greater Pumpkin raises up and pours a rich deep and burnished orange color. Heady aromas of bourbon, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and clove linger seductively over the thick white head of this tremendous brew. Its love at first sip as the full malt body, dominated by British crystal malt, brown sugar and pumpkin, slowly washes over your tongue. Bourbon barrel aging rounds out the flavors with notes of oak, vanilla, and bourbon. Pairs well with crisp autumn weather, crunchy fallen leaves, and the knowledge that your kids will be asleep soon so you can raid their Halloween candy bags.

The Heavy Seas (from Clipper City) already produces one of my favorite pumpkin beers, "The Great Pumpkin." They then take that awesome brew, age it in spent bourbon barrels, and call it "The Great'er Pumpkin." I've heard about this one for a few years now, but never had the opportunity to pick one up. This year it was released in the CT market, and we made sure to get some!

The Great'er Pumpkin pours a slightly hazy, burnt-orange, almost rusty color. It's a little darker than I remember the Great Pumpkin being, but I doubt I'd be able to tell them apart just by looking at them. The foam is pretty thick at first, but fades pretty quickly. I'm surprised at how much white foam there is at first, because this Great'er Pumpkin checks in at 9% abv, making it one of the stronger pumpkin beers this year.

The nose is awesome; filled with all kinds of pumpkin pie spices, I'm getting cinnamon, nutmeg, and I can't help but think of ginger for some reason. There's a mild amount of pumpkin aromas too, but it's hidden behind a substantial amount of alcohol esters.

Wow, once I take a sip, I am impressed! This is gorgeously spicy, a bit malty sweet, a little pumpkiny, and quite boozy. It's pretty much everything I like in a beer. Now, it's not nearly as heavy in the pumpkin as some others out there, but the spice is great, and I honestly love that little bit of a boozy nature. The alcohol isn't over-powering, but there's enough of it that you definitely notice it. I think I'd like to see a touch more pumpkin, but otherwise, I love this beer!

Well I'm getting down to the last few pumpkin beers to try this year, and the Heavy Seas "The Great'er Pumpkin" has really set the bar high. I think tomorrow night might be the time for the Pumking, and we'll see if it holds it's own again this year.

Bottle shared at the December iteration of the Santa Cruz tasting series. Dark orange color. Peppermint and cinnamon aroma, very wintery, pumpkin pie plus spices. Smooth pumpkin sweetness, big spice notes, too much nutmeg/cinnamon. Didn’t get any bourbon. Dial down the spices, dial up the squash and the booze.

A: Pours a dark orange with a finger of off-white head that recedes into a thin layer with little lacing.

S: Some pumpkin spices up front followed by vanilla, oak, and a surprising tart aroma that is reminiscent of tart cherries. Smooth bourbon aromas bring up the finish with some slight yam notes. Quite nice.

T: Spices up front again followed by a fairly strong kick of bread and bourbon. Vanilla and oak are mixed in as well with a slightly bitter finish and pumpkin showing up on the aftertaste. Light alcohol burn.

M: Medium body with lowish carbonation, this beer could benefit from a creamier body to compliment the bourbon aspects.

O: A pretty good pumpkin ale. While the bourbon does tend to dominate the pumpkin flavors, it does not completely mask them.

S – Green olives dominate the nose. Bright oak and molasses play backup, but can’t stand up to the overwhelming brine.

T – Strangely, but thankfully, none of the brine makes it into the profile. Soft bourbon is restrained, sweet, and paired with a vanilla and rolling oak. Chardonay-like twang in the center. Honey and light-grade molasses balance the alcohol and oak in the finish.

Pours a nice creamy 1 finger head that fades at a med pace with a bit of lacing, over mostly clear pumpkin orange colored beer.

Nose is huge, explodes with heavy fruity pumpkin, fresh pumpkin not really pie or canned, then a light non-gourd like fruit like a sour berry kinda fruit, light holiday spices, a creamy malt with hints of caramel and toasty malt, and light bourbon to round it off which also brings light oak.

Taste starts with more bourbon, much more than the nose. A nice bourbon flavor with some buttery oak, a lot more oak as well, and hint of vanilla. Then the pumpkin but not a ton, again more like fresh pumpkin more so than pie filling or canned, with more of a juicy fruit kick but no berry this time, although maybe a hint of pear like fruit, and light spices. the fruit really starts to take over, and it's not really a pumpkin fruit just an overall fruity taste that seems to make the beer a bit too weird as it dominates. Semi sweet with a hint of booze coming through with the sweet malts, a bit creamy malt and light toasty, as well as hint of caramel. Finish is semi sweet still and sticky, little bit more warming booze and pumpkin, hints of spices and bitterness, and little more bourbon and oak.

Mouth is med to a bit heavier bodied, decent carb, some warming almost tingly booze.

Overall not bad, it has some decent bourbon and buttery oak, decent pumpkin that adds a nice flavor not canned flavor, spices are kept in check, drinkable, light bitterness, a bit too sticky and sweet esp on the finish. Nothing special but tasty and done well.

Appearance: Hazy orange. Bright-white head. Pours a little heavy with some decent carbonation. Minus the haze, this is what I would expect to see.

Smell: This is where things start to go wrong. Bourbon, vanilla, clove, nutmeg, and a nice splash of real pumpkin. Sweet like pumpkin pie filling. Fleshy, vegetable goodness mired in some straight bourbon. Not a lot of aroma blending going on here. It's like sniffing a shot of bourbon and then jamming your nose in pumpkin pie filling.

Taste: Sweet pie filling soaked in bourbon. It tastes like someone got drunk in the kitchen and decided to share. Vanilla and oak jam down the sweetness. Clove and nutmeg dominate the spice profile, but bourbon kicks it in the balls and says "To hell with you. I'm the king!" and promptly drops a steamy load of bottom shelf bourbon on your tongue. Pumpkin bombs! Drop a shot of canned pumpkin in a glass of Jim Beam and you'll get the idea.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with a moderate carbonation. Drinks on the smooth side, with a hellaciously dry booze burn after every sip.

Overall: They didn't bourbon barrel age this. I think they pumpkin aged some bourbon. Seriously off balance and almost undrinkable. If I wanted to drink a glass of bourbon, I'd do it.

saw this locally and had to jump at it. just looked too interesting to miss.

a - opened the bottle and filled my cbs snifter. poured a soft orange, but settled in the glass as a darker brown with a thin white bubbly head that fizzed away somewhat quickly. to the light, this beer is chunky!?!

s - nice festive spiciness of a craft store with a soft barrel. the bourbon here is more in the vein of backwoods than in various -bal stouts. smells pretty fantastic.

t - full bodied pumpkin with a slap in the face of booze. has a kind of sangria type vibe with a pumpkin twist. the booze is REALLY in your face on this one.

m - boozy tingle. full bodied. the heat is on.

o - overall, who would've guessed it...barrel aged pumpkin!?! and it works!!! overall it is good, but the alc is just intense and i never say that. enjoyable none-the-less and a must try for the fans of the pumpkins.

Poured from a bomber into a true pint, the beer is a light, bright, yellow-copper coloring with a slim film covering of white froth. Light pumpkin sweet aromas, with only a slight spicing, and some stronger bourbon and woody overtones. Flavors are boozey right off the bat, with strong oak and bourbon highlights on the slick pumpkin flavors. The spicing is slight on the tail end, and ends up slightly overpowered by the other flavor profiles. The aftertaste is pumpkin and bourbon, which blends nicely. The finish is clean and quick, after the smooth, round body throughout drinking. I was surprised how different this brew is from the Great Pumpkin Heavy Seas offers. Tasty.

A: Deep orange pour with a nice billowy tan head. Retention is good and lacing is excellent.

S: Tons of pumpkin along with some milder pumpkin spices. Nutmeg and cinnamon in particular. A bit of bourbon, surprisingly not much. Bourbon comes out as it warms. A touch of vanilla?

T: Much like the nose. Lots of bourbon soaked pumpkin with nutmeg and cinnamon in the background. A light touch of vanilla everywhere. A little bit of oak too, especially in the aftertaste.

M: Medium body, a little tingle from the bourbon.

O: Interesting take on a pumpkin beer, never had a bourbon barrel one. Definitely adds a decent bit of complexity that complements the beer. Base beer isn't really all that hot unfortunately, needs more spices.

Greater Pumpkin, bottle bought at Whole Foods Chelsea in NYC for $11.99 plus tax. Way pricey but I love this beer. Have had it on cask (first at Max's in B'more and then at Pony in NYC) and on tap (at Pony). My first time on a bottle...

Appearance: Poured into my Lost Abbey snifter, The Greater pours freely and happy, delivering a deep-orange beer with barely a finger of head that dies almost immediately. Some lacing, though, but not great retention. About average looks overall.

Overall: Is this a complex beer? Maybe not... heck, it is all about the pumpkin and the bourbon! But I love it nonetheless. Drinkable, delicious, autumn-y, beautiful. And- different! Yeah. On cask, even better.

A light cloudy orang amber with a sizable off white head. A bit of carbonation is seen as well as a good bit of lace along the sides of the glass. Smell is sweet malt and pumpkin with pie spices. A good healthy splash of bourbon but not overpowering. It flows into a mild alcohol sharpness. A nice pumpkin bread component as well. Taste is a bit different. Pumpkin pie is the main course but the bourbon underpins the whole thing giving a boozy holiday flavor to this one. The bourbon and pie spice meld into a beer equivalent of a rum fruitcake. I kinda wish I had waited till Thanksgiving to open this one. Nice malt backbone is backed up by firm earthy hops to close out the beer with a clean dry finish. Bourbon comes in to add some vanilla and oak. Feel is creamy and supple with enough thickness to take on dessert and coffee. A lovely beer of complexity and depth.

Bought about a month ago and I’ve been looking forward to getting to try this one.
A: Not much head despite the fact that it gushed all over the place (thankfully missing my laptop and droid) which quickly dissipated in any matter. Light brown, but more of golden amber, color which you can’t see straight through.
S: Bourbon and booze, almost no pumpkin and not much of anything else.
T: Bourbon, Bourbon, a little pumpkin and more bourbon. I can certainly taste the alcohol, not what I was expecting.
M: Almost all bourbon, the flavor is really overwhelming. Can’t taste much of the beer.
O: Not the worst thing ever, better than a bunch of beers but the flavors are unbalanced and there’s way too much bourbon. Maybe not the best type of beer to age in bourbon barrels since the flavors don’t hold up.

A - Pours a clear reddish copper with a finger of off-white head. Not much lacing to speak of.

S - Bourbon, vanilla brown sugar and pie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and clove) up front. Some caramel malt as well. Didn't really get any oak notes. The bourbon is really a complement here. It is one of the predominant aromas, but it blends nicely with everything else.

T - The taste follows the aroma pretty well, with the addition of some wood tannins. A bit sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. The bourbon flavors are an improvement on the base beer.

M - Medium, slightly syrupy mouthfeel.

O - Nice flavor combination. I enjoyed this more than the base beer (which I also thought was pretty good).

Finally got my hands on a barrel-aged pumpkin beer this year...and now I've got a second one! Right on. This one pours a clear dark amber-tawny topped by a half-finger of off-cream-white foam. The nose comprises bourbon, vanilla, light cocoa, honey, cinnamon, clove, brown sugar, caramel, and a touch of ruby red grapefruit rind in the background. The taste brings in more of the same, with the bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon, and newcoming oak rocking the forefront of everything. More spices and a touch of toasted pumpkin seed back them up nicely. The body is a stolid medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a sorta syrupy feel. Overall, this is what a barrel-aged pumpkin beer oughta tste light. It brings in the best of both worlds and combines them very nicely. There are times when the bourbon looks like it's getting to big for its britches, but then the rest of the components come in and deftly cut it. Good times.

Big thanks goes out to my boy Lunch for sending me this one in a past trade! 2010 Vintage! Served from bottle into a Stone nonic. Poured orange with a minimal off-white head. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, pumpkin, wood, and sweet alcohol. The flavor was of sweet malt, cinnamon, brown sugar, wood, and sweet alcohol. It had a light feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a fairly good brew. After having the base version right before this one, I was a little concerned on what I would think of this one. However, this one definitely improved quite a bit with the -bal treatment. The barrel added a nice bit of complexity that was lacking in the previous beer and made it much more enjoyable to drink. Definitely the better of the two without a doubt. Just ask nickd and he will tell you why.

T - The tastes amplifies the sweet and spice pumpkin sense with a nice bourbon barrel identity, nice sync of spices woven with the oak vanilla. Underflow of the expected all spice, cinnamon, and clove come together in a subtle way dancing with the fleshy pumpkiness.

M - Medium carbonation and body. Prickly with a rather smooth finish and a soft lingering warmth.

O - Surprised by the flow of this offering. Nice sipper…

Notes: I many need to revisit the Great after having had the Greater Pumpkin… This works pretty well. Now, it´s only the second barrel aged bourbon pumpkin ale I try, and both, but this one in particular, were quite surprising… I may need to pick up another one of these.

Pours a clear copper, with a ½ finger covering of slight off-white head. This retains with more of a thin frothy fizziness, which leaves back a foamy cascade of lace that quickly slides down the sides of the glass. The aroma smells of vanilla, oak, pumpkin spices, a touch of softer fruity orange character, and then some underlying greenness. It’s tough to say if it’s pumpkin or not, as a bit of stiff warmth starts to come out as this warms and muddles things a bit.

The taste has a lot of vanilla going on, with additional notes of sweet caramel, orange zest, green pumpkin (it’s definitely standing out more here), and then some festive feeling spices that are scattered throughout the profile. The bourbon flavor mostly sits in the back here, and it rather nicely done, with a pleasant lightly charred burn on the back of the palate. More barrel flavor creeps into the finish, with a woody dryness that lingers with some leftover sugars and a touch of spice. The mouthfeel is full bodied and fairly effervescent in the mouth. Things do get a little smoother though as this runs over the tongue and the alcohol itself it pretty well hid. There is some warmth to the body here and the bourbon leaves a bit of heat behind but I was a bit shocked at how overall smooth this was in the mouth.

This was nice and was much better than I thought a BA Imperial Pumpkin Ale would have turned out. Besides some misgivings with the nose, I really enjoyed the overall integration of the flavors here and I was extremely surprised at how much of a smooth sipper this ended up being in the end. A full bottle was a little too much for me in one sitting but this is a perfect one to split.

One of the better pumpkin beers we have had, among a great 2011 crop. Bottle picked up in New york. Orange body, with bright tastes of orange, ginger, cinammon. Very fresh tasting although aged from last year. This ageing led to a balance and a dangerous smooth drinking. Bourbon added complexity without taking over or felling boozy.

Pours a murky honey orange with a 1 inch puffy tan head that fades to an oily film on the top of the beer. Small streaks and dots of lace line the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, pumpkin, spices, and some minor vanilla and wood aromas. A bit of a boozy smell comes out too but not necessarily a bourbon aroma. Taste is of malt, pumpkin, spices, vanilla, wood, and a bourbon flavor on the finish. This beer has a crisp mouthfeel with a good level of carbonation. Overall, this is a good pumpkin ale that is pretty much just as good as The Great Pumpkin just with added aromas and flavors.

A - Pretty orange/brown beer with a contrasting tan head. Head sticks around well, good lacing.

S - Huge, festive, aroma. Lots of caramel sweetness, cinnamon spice, pumpkin, and booze. Can't say I'd know what the style of a barrel aged imperial pumpkin would be, but this is what I'd want.

T - Right on cue with the aroma, big "festive" beer. Booze was just a bit out of balance with the flavors, otherwise well done. I'm accustomed to big barrel aged stouts, I think they need to tone down the bourbon on this relatively lighter beer.

M - Just needed a bit more chewy meaty feel to it to live up to my vision of what a monster pumpkin beer should be.

A: Yellow orange pour with a surprisingly large white head. The retention is very good. I was expecting this to be much, much darker.

S: The smell is pretty boozy. Bourbon and whiskey mostly. The pumpkin and spices have mostly become subdued. Vanilla and a bit of oakiness remain.

T: The taste really surprises me. The bourbon really overpowers it. The pumpkin, spices, and cinnamon show up on the back...and it doesn't taste good. Very strange taste. Never had a beer this light with bourbon flavors. Sort of confuses my palate.

MF: Light and carbonated well. Alcohol is certainly noticeable.

O: Not terribly drinkable. It tasted really strange. It was balanced, but the aftertaste was just so weird. Certainly glad I tasted it, but I wouldn't get it again.

2010 vintage
A - pours a rich brownish orange with very little foam with no lacing, just a ring of soapy bubbles making a ring around the glass
S - aroma is mostly pumpkin with hints of the bourbon and some pumpkin spices. It actually smells really nice.
T - nice pumpkin base with a nice mix of spices to round this one out. The bourbon is faint yet still very present. Its mellow but tastes very nice. I guess I'm saing that there is no alcohol burn.
M - medium bodied with some nice carbonation. a bit tingly.
D - a very nice pumpkin ale, all of the flavors seem to meld together nicely, including the bourbon. Nothing overpowers and makes this one very easy to drink. Not sure if this is due to a year of aging.